Jeff Elliott
Feedback on Mekong Delta Tour

My daughter and I joined a tour of the Mekong delta aboard the Le Cochinchine during the early part of June.

We very much enjoyed the trip, the accomodation on board was very good (we appreaciated the air conditioning!)

The food was good and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

Overall, it was a fantastic expereince which was well organised and executed. I would not hesitate to use your services again.

Regards

Jeff Elliott

kmroberts
Thanks

To the management, TNK travel. (HCMC and Ha Noi)

Recently, I was one of a party of 4 people to visit Vietnam. Our bookings with your company were under the name of Mrs. Jane Rosemary Fowler & party. The "party" consisting of my wife and myself and Jane's husband, Barry.

Jane Fowler belongs to a group of Australian nurses who exchange places with Vietnamese nurses, in order to have an understanding of nursing conditions existing in both countries.

This was Jane's 2nd visit to Vietnam and we were to arrive at the end of her attachment and then go touring together. Jane, being "on-the-spot," was able to arrange hotel bookings for us and told us not to try and book any tours from Australia, as the nurses always used "An excellent local travel agent!" This being TNK!

Having now experienced the services provided by TNK, I must congratulate you on your organisation and agree that it is "Excellent" in all respects.

We enjoyed our tour to the Mekong Delta immensely,- with courier Dong.

The tour to Cau Dai and Cu Chi was just as good,- with courier "Slim Jim!"

In both cases, we were impressed to note that one of the girls from the office came out and stuck signs on the various buses' side windows,- telling which tour each bus was going on. This small touch made things much easier for couriers and passengers to sort themselves out. It is small touches like this that make a big difference to customers!

Special mention must be made of the service provided by Ms Nhu Y at HCMC office.

We had made a rough itinerary of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see once we left HCMC and handed this to one of the girls in the office, she and 2 others looked at it and decided it needed someone with more experience and so we met Ms Nhu. She knew exactly what was needed and discussed everything with us and then told us to come back at 2:30pm to see the results of her labours! This was a Sunday and when we returned at 3pm, she was still hard at it. We later discovered, while talking to the office girls, that Ms Nhu was supposed to finish at 1pm! She was doing our itinerary and bookings in her own time and it was getting on for 5pm when we finished!!

Her hard work paid off, because everything went exactly to plan. She explained that not all tickets were on hand, but that everything we would need for onward travel would be e-mailed to us at the hotels she had booked for us. This worried us a bit initially, but it worked perfectly!!

She also explained that TNK's Ha Noi representative would contact us with tickets etc for our tours from Ha Noi and to Laos.

Mr Chung, at Ha Noi, came to our hotel. He went through our itinerary with us and made some excellent suggestions which we adopted with thanks. He said that we didn't want to be wandering around trying to get transport from the railway station at Lao Cai up to Sa Pa and he'd organise that and for the same taxy to collect us for the return trip later on. In due course, he escorted us to the station, led us to the train and our carriage and to our sleeping compartment. He would meet us at Ha Noi station on our return, take us back to our hotel for breakfast and make sure that our transport down to Ha Long arrived on time. When, a few days later, we arrived back from Ha Long, he came to our hotel and gave us our airline tickets for Laos and our vouchers for our hotels.

Both Ms Nhu and Mr Chung went above and beyond the normal course of duty to make our travels a smooth and hassle-free experience and we thank them for their efforts on our behalf.

You must be congratulated on your organisation as a whole. We hope that TNK remains a very successful business and does indeed look Towards the Next Millenium!!

Our regards. Mike and Kathleen Roberts. Corowa. Australia

Arnaldo Matute
comments about our tailor made trip to Vietnam by tnk travel

Hi all

I write you just to comment our recent trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

On Vietnam´s two legs of the trip, we asked tnk travel to organize for us some smaller trips : Mekong delta 2 days, out to Cambodia, Sapa 2 days, halong bay, and also little things like "we need a Hanoi - Hue train ticket".

We combined all of this with our self-made own itinerary, and all worked fine, except halong bay (but for bad weather), and even then, they promtply called us and they looked for alternatives for us.

Even saying we normally prefer to travel by ourselves, we found Tnk travel very helpfull and usefull for us

Thanks a lot

Rosa Fonti
Greetings and Thanksgivings

Dear Mrs. Luu Vo!

first of all, my apologies for writing so late.

I would like to thank you so much for the very nice present we got from Mr. JJ on you behalf!

We appreciated it a lot and once again let me say we are very grateful for the very nice tour we are enjoying throughout Indochina.

Our guides and drivers in Vietnam, Cambodia and now in Laos wereare very good, and the accomodations and restaurants always very nice.

We will definitely recommend your travel agency and the tour to anyone we can.

Again thanks a lot and our best regards,

Rosa Fonti

Annikki and Pierre
Indochina Customized Tour ( Nov 11th 06 ) /Mr. Pierre Herbert / Tour Report from Pierre

Hello Mr Dac Danh,

Annikki and I hope you are very well and we wish you, according to our western calendar, a very Happy New Year for 2007 and a lot of success for TNK Travel.

We came well home thru Malaysia and have been very busy since. But we promissed you a short report and comments on our beautiful trip thru your country and the two neighboring ones. Here it is:

First we must thank you again for a well organized tour, showing many highlights. Also, we have to confirm that the tour guides you selected for us have been very punctual, very friendly and had sufficient knowledge of the place and customs to make us enjoy every day.

Nhi for the Mekong Delta, Heng for Phnom Penh, Phin Borey for Siem Reap, "Jack"for Houen Xai to Loang Prabang, Khamtam in Vientiane, Tranh in Hanoi, Thinh in Lao Cai, Huy in Hue and Tong in Ho Chi Minh City, all have been doing an excellent job.Some were very knowledgeable in history like Phin Borey and Huy, which is always very appreciated by us.

The hotels were confortable enough. Luxury is not what we wanted but being in a genuine local environment. But in Chau Doc, the Ben Da Nui Sam Resort was situated in front of the loudspeaker broadcasting political news at night and early in the morning, which made resting impossible. In the early morning, at breakfast, the staff was bringing a very frugal breakfast and refused to bring a second cup of coffee...That hotel we cannot recommend. In Vientiane, the Lane Xang hotel is old and we got a small, rundown room. We called the agent Max and he rectified for a Superior room. In Ha Noi, the Army Hotel was OK but a bit "cold"! All hotel were situated at convenient distance from points of interest, so that was a plus.
We can especially recommend the Asia Hotel in Hue for its friendly atmosphere, its situation on the Perfume river, its comfort and breakfast.
Pakbeng Lodge on the Mekong is also to be recommended for the same reasons.

Meals were mostly adequate, some excellent like the ones on the Huong Hai junk on the Ha Long Bay.

Otherwise, we have the following recommendations:

1. In the Mekong Delta, a visit on one of the Cai Rang Market boats would be very interesting to speak with the boat people and see how they organize their living onboard.

2. In Ankor, before entering the temple area, we had to wait on line 1 1/2 hour (taking a pass photo and making the day pass). If the visitor was told in advance to bring one pass photo, it would speed up the entry.
Also in Ankor, you may forget the sunset at Phnom Bakheng because the crowds are too big now and the lookout totally disorganized.

3. In Ha Long, the crowds are also big now and...nearly 200 junks departing at about the same time...!!!
Unless the captain of your junk is given instructions to avoid the crowd, your visitors will be soon on line or in a pack to visit anything. We interviewed several locals and captains. Alltogether, there are nearly 600 junks now!

In a summary, we really enjoyed both the way Mr Dzung Trinh, yourself and your staff organized and followed up our tour, how you friendly treated us as customers, we met many other friendly persons along the trip, we discovered the sceneries and features of cultures that made our tour a permanent emotion that we still enjoy.

We wish you much success for this year!

Kind regards to you, to Mr Dzung Trinh and your staff.

Pierre and Annikki

Mark Mulder
Reflections

We have just returned from Vietnam and had a wonderful time. We spent five days in HCMC and five in Hanoi. The sights, sounds and smells were a great experience. Many thanks to TNK travel and Mr Vu who helped organise the Halong Bay 2 day/1 night cruise. They also organised accomodation, at a price way cheaper then what we could manage.

Again, many thanks,and we would recommend TNK to anyone.

Mrs Isabella Hansson
vietnam highlights tour
I would like to thank you for organising our wonderful trip to Vietnam in July 2006. Your guides and drivers were superb and the service you provided was excellent. We feel so lucky to have spent time in your country and have seen so many marvelous sights that will stay in our hearts for ever. Your company offers excellent service and I recommend anyone thinking of travelling to Vietnam to travel with you. A special thanks to Do our guide in Hanoi for the wonderful experience of Halong Bay.

Hermann Frey
Cao Dai and Cu Chi Tunnel Day Tour

We were booking the Cao Dai temple and Cu Chi tunnel tour for 26th of December 2011 on the Internet.
I had some correspondence with the sales executive (Ms. Hang Vo) before to get the booking right.
So we were eventually picked up at our hotel a bit outside but on the way. The pick up was sharp on time and the bus with reasonable comfort, although full.
Our friendly guide (unfortunately I'm not so sure about the name any more) could speak quite good English. He did a lot of efforts to explain backgrounds and history during the day.
Lunch was in a simple countryside restaurant but with good Vietnamese food.
The temple is a bit far but getting known to this tradition and attending lunchtime prayers gives the right contrast to the martial afternoon visit of Cu Chi.
At Cu Chi it is very interesting to learn what smart ideas the Vietcong implemented in order to cope with a technological superpower.
Of course, the Americans have done a lot of wrong things and therefore are still being perceived as the bad guys but in my opinion Vietnamese should learn more to differentiate the facts of the cold war.

Overall an enjoyable and good organized tour!

John Kellas
Mai Chau 4 day trek

We used TNK Travel for 16 day tour in 2008 and have now moved to Hanoi for a year and use their local affiliate, Dream Travel in Hanoi. We arranged to do the 4D/3N trek from Po Co/Hang Kia to Mai Chau over New Year. While the weather was cloudy and we missed the spectacular sights, we did enjoy the exercise. We had a local Guide/Cook, Miss Phuong, and a Hanoi guide, Quyen, with Mr Son doing the luggage transfers. We had 3 homestays and Phuong showed her culinary skills to perfection, different dishes each lunch and dinner, at each one.
We seemed to meet most of Phuong's family through the course of the 4 days, which we enjoyed. Homestays were satisfactory and trekkers will find them acceptable. Village life is simple and basic and one hears all the animals day and night, so expect the roosters to crow early and often.
We will suggest to our own future visitors that we do some more treks or stay at Mai Chau.

Thanks to Danh (TNK) and Ngoc Anh and Trang (Dream Travel).
JDK
PS Ask for Phuong and Quyen as guides

Susan Cook
Thank you from Canada

Hello Ms. Luu Vo,

Our holiday would not have been possible without all your help in organizing our customized tour and by staying in touch via email with myself and my Australian friend with all your prompt details and assistance prior to our trip. Also, for personal and telephone contact during our holiday in Vietnam. You and your co-workers showed us that you are more than qualified to handle any situation that would arise for an international traveller.

Thank you Ms. Luu Vo, Ms. Kim Cuong, Mr. Quach Trong Thang, tour guides and drivers for opening the doors to the wonderful people in your beautiful country. I arrived home two days ago with fond memories, lots of photos and a life-changing experience.

We would like to acknowledge Mr. Quach Trong Thang as our number one tour guide in Vietnam. His command of the english language together with his thoughtful, personal and insightful little extras made our visit to Saigon, HCMC, Mekong Delta, DaLat and NTrang so pleasurable. He educated us, chased butterflies with our digital camera, treated us to coconut milk, coffee, persimmons, took photos, chose special menus, walked with us into a coffee plantation, showed us where to buy pumpkin seeds, took us to historical and religious sites, introduced us to the culture of the people through the markets and home based businesses, advised where to get a wonderful foot massage, while all the time paying attention to all our needs, including follow-up with long distance calls. I would recommend him without hesitation.

At the time of the flood in the central highlands we were so impressed with Ms. Kim Cuong s efficient and expedient assistance in changing flights and hotels. We would not have had this prompt service had we booked our tour from our home countries. Our hats off to you for providing this type of customer service to international travellers. The welcome signs and transfers to and from airports made our travel so much easier.

I would like to make mention of two other tour guides that stood above the rest. Mr. Co in Danang, was so patient and understanding and had a wonderful sense of humour. His personality shone. In spite of the flood and the re-arrangements he was totally available and supportive to us and put us at ease. Another guide, Mr. Do Xuan Hoa in Hanoi was also well spoken and an experienced tour guide. He took us to Halong Bay and tried to find a shower for us in the wee hours of the morning, bought us some fresh bread, took us kayaking and introduced us to many aspects of northern Vietnam with ease, grace and understanding. He is certainly the one to lead anyone on a trek or camping trip into Sapa with his years of experience with the northern tribes in the mountains.

The driver from Dalat to NTrang was very skilled and adept at handling the mountainous, muddy route with ease and professionalism. His name escapes me. The other drivers are to be credited for handling the many weather changes and surrounding bikes.

The three-star hotels you booked throughout the country were all better than expected except for the one in Sapa which I would suggest you remove from your list. It would hardly measure a zero star. You may wish to check out a new one named Chapas which we viewed. We understood the need for the hotel in Danang with the floods. The staff at that hotel were exceptional with their help. However, their hotel would not be in the same three-star category as all of the others. Most of the staff at all of the hotels were welcoming, helpful and accommodating.

To all of you, I would like to thank you for the wonderful customer service which you provided on our first visit to Vietnam. It is the biggest asset to your company.

I will happily recommend you and your staff and the above mentioned tour guides to any Canadian who plans to visit your country.

Kind regards and hugs,

Susan Cook
Box 127
Wynndel, British Columbia
Canada
V0B 2N0